Ecclesiastical site

The National Monuments Service's description

According to Bradley et al. (1986 vol. 3, 196-265), the name Kildare is derived from Cill Dara, ‘the church of the oak’, a tree which, according to the 7th century writer Cogitosus, stood beside St. Brigid’s early-6th century monastery. Originally founded for nuns, it became a ‘double monastery’, with nuns under an abbess and monks under an abbot or bishop (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 319-20). The first bishop recorded was Conleth, who died in 520 (Annals of Ulster). Cogitosus’ Life of Brigid, written c. 680, describes a large church with many windows, and formal, decorated doors for the nuns and monks, who were separated by a screen running down the centre of the church. The altar was also cut off from the rest of the church by a screen covered with paintings and hangings, and was flanked by the richly ornamented shrines of Brigid and Conleth. The shrines were reputedly carried off by Viking raiders in 835. The monastery was burned on a number of occasions between 710 and 1089, (not always maliciously): after one burning, in 1012, The Annals of Clonmacnoise record, ‘all the Towen of Kildare was burnt by a thunderbolt but one house’, suggesting a secular, urban-type settlement had developed around the monastery, while after another burning, in 1050, it was noted that both the wooden church (durthech) and the stone church (damhlaig) were destroyed. Kildare’s importance was recognised in 1111 at the Synod of Rathbreasil, when it became one of the five episcopal sees of Leinster. The precise location of the early monastery is uncertain, but it almost certainly stood on, or near, the surviving cathedral (KD022-029005-), high cross (KD022-029021-) and round tower (KD022-029020-) in the graveyard (KD022-029003-); while the curvilinear nature of some streets may reflect the lines of early monastic enclosures (KD022-029058-).

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 19 January 2011